We believe that nothing is going to get better if the world collectively hides under its desk. It's time for the Web to step up and step into its role as a platform for positive change--be it in our economy, our culture, or our society.

Last year we focused on where the Web met the world. This year, the Web is the world. And we've got a lot of work to do.

. . .be there, and get squared!

OMG. I think I'll stay under my desk until this passes...

Here, to mark the Web 2.0 Summit is some of my prior coverage of Web 2.0:

"We have absolutely no interest in funding Web 2.0 companies," says Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins. He mentioned this during an after dinner conversation last week. He said he had recently told John Battelle, one of the organizers of the rapidly growing Web 2.0 Summitconference, that the term no longer had the same positive cachet it once had. In the VC community it clearly has a negative one.

The Web 2.0 sector is a vibrant sector that is supported by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. But how many "Web 2.0" companies are profitable? What's the value of the Web 2.0 market as a whole? It depends how Web 2.0 is defined but probably there aren't any profitable Web 2.0 companies yet, and the total value of the market is too small to measure. So who is making money out of Web 2.0? That's easy, it is the conferences such as TechCrunch50 with tickets at $2,995 each. And of course Tim O'Reilly's trademarked Web 2.0 conferences such as the upcoming Web 2.0 Summit at $3,795 for each ticket.